Kris watched as Angelo's special scored direct hits, and a shock wave of dissipating energy rang out across the battlefield. Then above the smoke, two streams of azure particles marking the Earth and Silver Avatars rose up into the stormy sky. "YES, we've broken the enemy formation, we can easily win by timeout now!" cheered Kris.

"Incoming!" He sidestepped the second Earth Avatar by reflex, as it rolled harmlessly through his misty body and straight at Angelo, ever increasing in speed and vengeance.

//

Just as the first Earth Avatar and Silver Avatar were defeated, a change in modus operandi occured to the bots. The second Earth Avatar activated its ability, rolling its body up into a smooth boulder and rotating forwards to crush an opponent beneath its tread GOTTA GO FAST. Scarlet Gunner aimed its gun at Green Deer, but hesitated as the latter doggedly pursued the flagging Yellow Beetle; its program had been modified to account for friendly fire, but in this situation it only limited its action. However damage was dealt anyways, as lightning struck Green Deer, stunning her momentarily and allowing Scarlet Rain to open fire.

The timer ticked down to 30 seconds and below; the battle was almost over.

Health:
Green Deer = -------------- -30 Lightning + Bullets
Gunmetal Fog = ---- -80
Magenta Reaper = --------- -55

Special:
Green Deer = +100 READY
Gunmetal Fog = +0
Magenta Reaper = -0 Slash Wave

Health:
Load Barrier = -100 DEFEAT
Scarlet Gunner = ----------------- -10
Silver Coil = -100 DEFEAT
Stone Wall = -------------------- -10
Yellow Beetle = -------- -60 Swords

Special:
Scarlet Gunner = +60
Stone Wall = -10 Boulder Roll
Yellow Beetle = +80

Lily took the onslaught of attacks, dropping to the ground, she rolled out the way, leaping back up, and noticing that her special ability could now be used. This was exciting to Lily, as it would be the first time she would use it. Thrilled, she activated it, and everything seemed to go back in time slightly, her health healed, and the attacks on her were played back.

When her ability fizzled out, Lily at once ducked, avoiding the lighting and the bullets, she waited a second or two before leaping up, and thrusting a blade at the Yellow Beetle, spinning about so the yellow beetle was in between Lily and any other attacks.

Angelo charged in after lily had used ability to give her some cover as Angelo charged in and flew behind the scarlet gunner giving a hard slash so that it would focus on Angelo instead of lily so they could time out and still win...

Game. Set. Match.

Green Deer's Citron Call rejuvenated more than just her health, and she smoothly hacked through Yellow Beetle's remaining health, resulting in one more stream of azure particles to appear. With Magenta Reaper's final slash at Scarlet Gunner and Stone Wall rolling in too late, the health difference was just enough to win the game for team protagonists.

Health:
Green Deer = -------------- +0 Citron Call
Gunmetal Fog = ---- -80
Magenta Reaper = --------- -55

100 + 20 + 45 = 165 WINNER

Special:
Green Deer = -0 Citron Call
Gunmetal Fog = +0
Magenta Reaper = +20

Health:
Load Barrier = -100
Scarlet Gunner = ----------------- -30 Scythe
Silver Coil = -100
Stone Wall = -------------------- -10
Yellow Beetle = -100 DEFEAT

70 + 90 = 160 DEFEAT

Special:
Scarlet Gunner = +80
Stone Wall = -10

//

As Kris linked out of the game, he staggered a step forward as adrenaline wore off, then clutched at the door frame when the world started to spin too fast. Despite the injury to his nerves from racking up so much pain, Kris knew he had to move fast before the original locations of those tablets changed. Recovering not so gracefully, he glanced up at a brunette male in school uniform staring at him with intent. (@NightmareInd)

Lily come back smoothly, crouching immediately to prevent herself from falling over, but then she was up and running, leaving the lockers for a later search. She wanted to reach Angelo and Kris, one of them, to make sure they were okay. The thrill of winning another rigged match would come later, for now concern for her friends ruled.

Sam just got out of class. He was heading of to get lunch when someone got out of one of the classes as well. It looked like nothing out of the ordinary. However, in a split second the guy's expression, both with his body language and his face, changed from a normal one to one that seemed to be serious and even a bit in pain. Sam was usually one to ignore others, but he couldn't stand it if someone needed help. He walked towards the guy. "Are you al right?" He asked. He was a bit curious though why this person changed his expression so fast. He didn't see any reason how it could've happened, and if there should be something immediately threatening, then the guy's Neurolinker should've turned on something like an alarm.

Angelo groaned loudly as he was pulled back from the rigged match as he leaned against a nearby doorway to try and get his regular movement back. After so much adrenaline was pumping in his system he needed a moment to get his breath back and return to his normal state. He needed to go and check on both lily and Kris but knowing lily she will look for Kris so that meant he needed to get to Kris so they could try and find out what happened. After a moment to catch his breath he went to go and find Kris...

"Yeah I'm fine, probably just a case of the midterm blues..." Kris muttered in reply, still delirious. Then his expression perked up and he glared intensely at the brunette. "Have you seen a retro tablet lately, just around campus, I need to get to it before...oh never mind, of course you wouldn't have."

He casually shoved past Sam and walked down the hall with a limping gait, bracing one hand against the wall while keeping the other in his pocket. Hopefully Kris's brusque attitude coupled with the best weird act he could pull off would give the signal to ignore him. Still feeling giddy from battle, he started whistling Ode to Joy in an obnoxious, off tune.

The guy seemed to be hiding something, but a retro tablet? Where had he seen one before? He then remembered. "Wait, you said a retro tablet, right? I think I've seen one in the library. The one with physical books that is." He told the guy.

After the Neurolinker came to be and many books got online copies, books were rarely read in physical form anymore, so not many people were visiting the library either. However, there were always old books which were not online yet, and also some people who just liked to have the books in their hands. Sam himself was more someone who went to the library for the silence. He never liked it when it was crowded around him.

Lily slowed as she reached the place where Kris had last been, stopping as she saw someone talking with him. Who were they? She was suspicious, wondering if this person was responsible for what was happening to them. Uneasy, she didn't want to intrude right then, so instead she continued walking as if she was merely on the way somewhere.

Kris stopped mid tune and swung his head around to face Sam again, a distinct look of boredom and disregard showing over his shoulder. Do I even look like I give a fuck, he smugly thought, but then again the location of the library did match up with one of the bots; the trick was to obtain help without triggering any unnecessary curiosity.

He reached out and half grabbed, half rested his hand on Lily's shoulder as she innocently passed by. Pointing at the concerned brunette he was about to tick off, Kris mouthed off to Lily, "Get a load of this kid. He THINKS there's a retro tablet in the library, what is that supposed to mean? There IS or there ISN'T, only a dumbass NEET (Not Educated or Employed in Technology) wouldn't be able to tell the difference between one and a fucking BOOK. You know what, I think he's one of those recent transfer students feeling grabby for attention. Hey kid, you're going to have to do better than that around here, actually SHOW me you're not just lying to my face after staring creepily at it for the last minute or so, okay?"

With that last line, he gave Sam his best sarcastic smile.

Angelo was about to meet up with Kris when he saw a different student talk to him so he stayed in the shadows seeing that lily was going to try to talk to Kris herself and then Angelo did a facepalm when he heard Kris mouthing off to the poor guy. Angelo would beat Kris for that later but for now he needed to get to the library. He sent a text to both of them with the phones 'got message, heading to library' the text said as Angelo ran quickly to the library in case their hacker decided to make a break for it...

Lily stopped as Kris rested his hand on her shoulder, glancign to the boy as Kris mouthed off. "Oh, well. Some people may not have seen a tablet before Kris, at least not a retro one. He might not be sure if what he's seen is right, but we could follow through with it, if he takes us to where he saw it, right?" She gave a smile, as if to reassure the guy that she was on his team, or at the very least not going to jump down his throat.

"Don't worry about him, he gets snarky when he hasn't eaten, we try to keep him fed, but somethings he slips away from us" She gave another smile, unintentionally slipping into the old, cliched good cop bad cop tactic, but she did give a laugh, to show that she was joking about that.

Sam looked a bit annoyed at the guy. He was just trying to help, but if this guy was going to be acting like this he could forget about it. Sam was about to walk away, when the girl who seemed to know the guy told him he was just hungry. The girl seemed nice. "It's fine. Anyway, I was talking the truth about the tablet. I can show you." He said, then walked in the direction of the library, motioning for the two to follow him.

Once at the library, he walked towards one of the desks at the corner. He looked underneath it, checking if it was still there. It was. Taped to the bottom of the desk, with the tape in the same colour as the desk itself covering it completely, was a rectangle device. Sam removed a bit of the tape to confirm it was a tablet, and indeed it was. He took the tape off the tablet and layed it on the table.

"I saw it a few days ago when I was studying and dropped my snack. Back then I thought it was some kind security device of the school, but I kept wondering why it was done so unprofessional. I mean, there are a lot of more modern technological devices that for example you could install easily inside the wall. That way it goes unnoticed and you have more reliability. Why were you guys looking for it anyway?"

"Hmph." It was all he could voice as Kris picked up the tablet, impressively and suspiciously well spotted by the brunette. Rebooting it from standby, he did a quick search through its contents and came up shorthanded as suspected; only the host server contained the bot program itself, while an infected computer only relayed commands. He pulled out the camera phone from his backpack and was surprised to find a new message by Psycho no less - at least someone today shared his appreciation for the antiques. Kris quickly texted back the tablet's make and model number, and added:

look up local sellers, someone needs replacement soon
stake out on your free time, i will be busy with technical issues

With an open flourish to acknowledge Angelo's attention, and possibly startle someone else, Kris slid the tablet into his backpack. "Thanks for your concern, as always, but aren't you late for soccer practice? No I do not need a Snickers." Kris flatly put to Lily, with an arched eyebrow for emphasis.

Angelo was on his way to the library but was beaten by the brunette that was with Kris and lily. He noticed that the device was hidden under the desk which was actually pretty clever for a high school student at least. Soon Angelo got the text from Kris with the make and the model number both would be needed to find the seller. If all goes as planned they would find the hacker when he looks for a replacement. 'Fair enough. Try and find out who was here the library is more or less deserted most days so someone had to have come their to put the tablet their in the first place' Angelo texted to him and Angelo left to go and figure out what other shops sell retro tablets like the model that was under the desk.

Lily just smiled at Kris, "There now, no jumping down someones throat and you have an answer now. The other girls always take a long time to change, so I got a few moments, but i better head off. See you later, try not to be grumpy" She gave a small laugh, and then she was once more darting off, moving smoothly, she managed to get to practice in enough time not to be suspicious or considered late. .

"Of course I wasn't grumpy, you still underestimate the power of charisma," muttered Kris under his breath. Turning back to the brunette. he bade him in a somber tone, "You don't appear to have accelerated your world, but how should I know. Well new kid, maybe look things up if you want to get used to our school. Farewell for now, I'm off to catch the last bit of lunch served."

As Kris strolled out of the library, waving behind him, he wondered how much of the only hint he'd given about his double life, could go the distance with a complete stranger. Before putting away his phone, he texted one last message to Lily:

another tablet should be in locker rooms, hidden same way
if you find it in girl's, leave friendly message "we're coming for u"

Angelo was worried that the hacker might catch on to fast and would leave before they could catch them so Angelo was forced to go old school. He used his new phone and used maps thankfully it was updated with locations of places similar to where he bought the phones no doubt one of them would show the places that wild carry the tablet and is nearby so that the hacker could get a replacement easy if we discovered one...

Lily noted the message, but didn't risk replying as she reached the locker rooms. She put her gear away, and leaning down, tied a loose shoelace, glancing about the lockers as she did so, quickly studying the room. No one seemed uneasy, but she supposed if no one suspected they were being watched they wouldnt be uneasy.

She would linger back after practice and try once more to break into a few lockers.